Press Releases
PEN America experts are available for interviews with the press. Please direct inquiries to Suzanne Trimel, Senior Advisor, Communications and Media, at [email protected].
At a time of unprecedented attacks against the free press, PEN America Members are taking action. Join us today.
PEN to present impunity cases at UNESCO Press Freedom Day observance
International PEN's Writers in Prison Committee will press the case of an Iranian writer and lawyer jailed for his crusade to win justice for the families of murdered writers… More
Cuban Journalist, Tunisian Writer to Receive PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Awards
PEN American Center today named Bernardo Arévalo Padrón, an independent journalist serving a six-year prison term for calling attention to rights violations in Cuba, and Zouhair Yahyaoui, a Tunisian… More
Texas librarian to receive PEN/Newman’s Own First Amendment Award
PEN American Center today named Jerilynn Adams Williams, a Texas librarian who successfully turned back an attempt to remove books from circulation at Montgomery County public libraries, as the… More
Grigory Pasko Released
Grigory Pasko, a journalist imprisoned in December 2001, was freed today, following a parole hearing. He was serving a two year and four month sentence for his reports on… More
PEN announces year-long freedom of expression and impunity campaign
PEN, the worldwide association of professional writers, marked International Human Rights Day by announcing a year-long campaign to challenge impunity for violations of the essential right to freedom of… More
PEN protests U.S. treatment of Turkish rights champion
PEN American Center and PEN USA West, the two U.S.-based centers of International PEN, today released copies of a letter they have sent to Secretary of State Colin Powell… More
Book groups protest secrecy on bookstore, library subpoenas
Groups representing authors, book publishers, and booksellers have criticized the Justice Department for refusing to reveal publicly how many times it has used its power under the U.S.A. PATRIOT… More
Risking retribution, Iranian lawyer pleads for jailed husband’s release
PEN American Center and PEN Canada, two leading centers of International PEN, today issued an urgent appeal for the release of four prominent writers and translators imprisoned in Iran. More
Burmese poet, Uighur historian to receive PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Award
PEN American Center today named Aung Myint, a Burmese poet serving a 21-year prison term for distributing a press release to foreign diplomats and press, and Tohti Tunyaz, an… More
Vanessa Leggett to receive 2002 PEN/Newman’s Own First Amendment Award
PEN American Center today named Vanessa Leggett, the freelance writer who was jailed in a federal detention center in Texas for 168 days for refusing to bow to a… More
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